Did your child teach themselves to read before School?

[ladywriter1234]

Just interested in this. I've never pushed my child (5.5) at all, but we did hold him back in kindergarten so he's more than ready for school. He's starting to show signs of teaching himself. I've heard schools prefer it if they'd don't know how to read when they get there (Im in Australia so forgive me if this is difference in the UK, it's about them teaching them their method) So should I encourage this? Or just wait another 6 months til he starts school? Full details: He's sounding out words and starting to put them together - nothing major, probably normal for a child of this age but he's not in school yet

Don't know about schools but I was able to read before starting school and so was my nephew.

Agree with previous poster, it is not unusual for a 5.5 year child to be able to read simple sentences or even full simple books (one or two sentences per page - about ten pages), so yes, I would very much encourage it - when my son left nursery at 4.5 years old (to start school) everyone in his class could read age appropriate books (in the UK school starts by 5 years old)